From the right: Don Just Changed the Future
“In the case of the Middle East what Trump said about himself is true,” marvels Commentary’s John Podhoretz. “He said he doesn’t start wars. Trump said he ends wars” — and Saturday night “was Trump ending this evil war of Iran’s, either right now or after more pain causes the mullahs to cry uncle. For Israel didn’t start this war either. It was launched, by Iran and its catamites, on Oct. 7.” The strike’s “impact is potentially so enormous, and so world-historic, we needn’t rush into interpreting its larger meaning.” But: “Trump has said since the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., that he believes God spared him for a reason. And now, so do I.”
Conservative: Kill the Suicide Bill
Gov. Hochul should veto “The Medical Aid in Dying Act, which passed the State Assembly in April,” and “would allow people diagnosed with terminal illnesses to request a prescription for lethal drugs,” urges City Journal’s John Hirschauer. Besides moving to “effectively recognize suicide as a human right,” “the bill has relatively few safeguards,” as “it does not require that the person requesting the drugs be psychiatrically evaluated.” “And the bill’s drafters declined to include a residency requirement,” meaning people from across the country could come to New York and euthanize themselves. “Human life is marked by terrible suffering.” “But once the state decides that anyone, on account of illness, has the ‘right’ to kill himself, it has decided that suffering can render life worthless.”
Liberal: UFT Winning Mayoral Primary
New York schools are “worse today” despite “an incredible $36,000 spent per pupil — about twice the national average — with National Assessment of Educational Progress scores of 28% proficient in reading and a few points more in math,” grumbles Joe Klein at Substack. One problem: Teachers, like other city workers, are “unable to be fired.” Although education “is the absolute key to future success for New York,” it “hasn’t been much discussed in the Democratic mayoral primary.” In a Manhattan Institute report, all of the candidates “received D’s and F’s, except one” — Whitney Tilson, “an obscure Wall Street moderate” despised by the teachers union. The UFT hasn’t endorsed any candidate, likely due to its “utter confidence that the winner will abide by its wishes.”
From the right: LA Needed Trump’s Help
“Gov. Gavin Newsom told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that local law enforcement officers were ‘sufficient to maintain order’ ” in Los Angeles, yet LAPD officers tell Heather Mac Donald at The Wall Street Journal, “We don’t have s— under control.” She cites numerous instances of violence that, by “sheer luck,” weren’t life-threatening. “Should Trump have waited to see if the locals” would eventually control the situation? The answer’s clear: “Police Chief Jim McDonnell put the LAPD on tactical alert” and canceled all time off. Yet days later, Mayor Karen Bass nonetheless had to order a curfew. “Still the disorder continued.” Fact is, “There is more danger from tolerating” lawlessness than from responding to it “with all legal means.”
Libertarian: Cut the F-35
“As the U.S. grapples with ballooning federal budgets and increasingly necessary spending cuts, the military remains ripe for austerity,” blares Joe Lancaster at Reason. The F-35 jet is a perfect example of a “program that deserves to be scrapped.” Since its inception after 9/11, “the jet has proven itself not ready from prime time, both more expensive and less functional than promised.” Too bad “the House Appropriations Committee’s proposed Defense Appropriations Bill for 2026 would spend $8.5 billion on F-35s,” and “President Donald Trump has called the F-35 ‘the greatest fighter jet in the world.’” “The F-35 means to replace previous-generation aircraft like the F-16, but instead, the obsolete models are running circles around their intended replacement.” Every new thing we hear about the F-35, “proves that it’s long past time to kill the program.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
